Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
Following several members of different castes in India during the 70s and 80s, Mistry weaves the triumphs and tragedies of four main characters, a young widow, Dina, a student, Maneck, and two tailors, Ishvar and Om. The story, at its core, is about the extended family possible when the traditional family or society is disrupted either willingly or unwillingly. A story of this length and such misery serves to make me certainly grateful for my own life, circumstances, and the United States. I may have ranked this five stars if the author had not tried to beat me over the head with some of the various metaphors employed throughout. After the dozenth time, I was like, "I've got it. Keep the story moving already."
A deeply humane and beautifully written novel about India in 1975. Through the lives of four people, brought together in one household by chance, Mistry captures the ancient and modern cruelties of India and the power of ordinary Indians to endure. Living in an unnamed city by the sea, Dina, a young widow, has to struggle ceaselessly to maintain her own independence. Maneck is a college student who cannot forgive his parents for sending him away from their idyllic hill station. Ishvar and Om, uncle and nephew, are tailors fleeing from caste violence in their native village.
They will move from distrust to friendship to love, only when they tell one another their stories, the same way by which the reader gets to understand them. Mistry is, however, sensitive to the limits of storytelling. Sometimes, friendship is just not enough, and the novel, having brought them together, inexorably separates them as they confront growing up, marriage, political corruption, religious violence, the Emergency. The fine balance between hope and despair can only be maintained for a while.
Sewn into the main stories are tales of other colorful characters. Like Rajaram who collects hair for a living. And Shankar, the armless and legless beggar who rolls himself about on his wooden platform on castors, and works for the Beggarmaster. And Avinash, the student leader who dares to agitate for justice and is punished horribly. If they seem larger-than-life, they are also true to life, Mistry's writing assures the reader. In fact, he warns the reader right from the beginning by quoting Balzac in the book's epigraph:
"Holding this book in your hand, sinking back in your soft armchair, you will say to yourself: perhaps it will amuse me. And after you have read this story of great misfortunes, you will no doubt dine well, blaming the author for your own insensitivity, accusing him of wild exaggeration and flights of fancy. But rest assured: this tragedy is not a fiction. All is true."
They will move from distrust to friendship to love, only when they tell one another their stories, the same way by which the reader gets to understand them. Mistry is, however, sensitive to the limits of storytelling. Sometimes, friendship is just not enough, and the novel, having brought them together, inexorably separates them as they confront growing up, marriage, political corruption, religious violence, the Emergency. The fine balance between hope and despair can only be maintained for a while.
Sewn into the main stories are tales of other colorful characters. Like Rajaram who collects hair for a living. And Shankar, the armless and legless beggar who rolls himself about on his wooden platform on castors, and works for the Beggarmaster. And Avinash, the student leader who dares to agitate for justice and is punished horribly. If they seem larger-than-life, they are also true to life, Mistry's writing assures the reader. In fact, he warns the reader right from the beginning by quoting Balzac in the book's epigraph:
"Holding this book in your hand, sinking back in your soft armchair, you will say to yourself: perhaps it will amuse me. And after you have read this story of great misfortunes, you will no doubt dine well, blaming the author for your own insensitivity, accusing him of wild exaggeration and flights of fancy. But rest assured: this tragedy is not a fiction. All is true."
Well that was one the most depressing things I have ever read! It was especially devastating considering the time you are with this four characters and the time you spend getting to know each of them as separate people before you watch them become a family. It's a well woven story, a story that depicts how important these people are to each other and how devastating it is when they splinter.
Once again, as with most of Mistry's work, I'm at a bit of a disadvantage since my knowledge of Indian history is practically non existent but the horror of what is on the page gives you more than you need to know. It's up there with some World War II novels I've read on crimes against humanity, different levels obviously but still just as harrowing and horrible.
What really kills you is the ending. The tailors never attaining their dream and losing everything, Manek becoming distant (and dead at the end I'm assuming as some sort of cosmic punishment for his indifference when before he'd cared so much) and then Dina, poor Dina, who looses a family for a second time and has to go back to her brother to live out her days as her eyesight leaves her. She still has her tailors, and they have each other, but it is a small victory.
It's a long haul of a book but it's worth every moment. Even though your heart is in pieces at the end.
Once again, as with most of Mistry's work, I'm at a bit of a disadvantage since my knowledge of Indian history is practically non existent but the horror of what is on the page gives you more than you need to know. It's up there with some World War II novels I've read on crimes against humanity, different levels obviously but still just as harrowing and horrible.
What really kills you is the ending. The tailors never attaining their dream and losing everything, Manek becoming distant (and dead at the end I'm assuming as some sort of cosmic punishment for his indifference when before he'd cared so much) and then Dina, poor Dina, who looses a family for a second time and has to go back to her brother to live out her days as her eyesight leaves her. She still has her tailors, and they have each other, but it is a small victory.
It's a long haul of a book but it's worth every moment. Even though your heart is in pieces at the end.
5/5
One of the best books I have read in a while. The writing was beautiful, the story was so beautifully crafted. It made me feel like a myriad of emotions - sadness, happiness, anger, fear. I feel like I just lived with the characters. I was attached to them. I haven't felt this sheer amount of sadness in a very long time. It is that book that leaves you ugly crying.
One of the best books I have read in a while. The writing was beautiful, the story was so beautifully crafted. It made me feel like a myriad of emotions - sadness, happiness, anger, fear. I feel like I just lived with the characters. I was attached to them. I haven't felt this sheer amount of sadness in a very long time. It is that book that leaves you ugly crying.
I liked this book for the detailed narration of every event, object, feelings that brought live the environment of the 1970s. I do remember the emergency period when I was in my middle school. I am from southern part of India - and we did not have the type of impact the author describes, but, I have heard such type of stories then.
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I love this book. A glimpse into a culture so totally different to our comfortable society. We think we are poor, but compared to the characters in this book, we are pretty well off, yet they bear their hardships stoically. Whereas Slumdog Millionaire scraped the surface, this book imerses the reader in India's underclass.
a superbly written tale, spell-binding, but extraordinarily tragic.
Wow, this is definitely not a feel good read. But I enjoyed it and keep thinking about it.